End of gay Mass: Pondered for years or pressed by Vatican?

There were lots of online comments and e-mails to me after we published a story about the decision by the archdiocese to halt the customary Mass for the gay and lesbian community.

Much of the comments speculated about what really brought about the decision.

Those for the decision said it was a fitting end to years of complaints about how the Mass violated core Catholic teachings. Coordinated for the local chapter of DignityUSA, a national group which advocates for the acceptance of alternative lifestyles, it gave the signal that the Church was hypocritically taking a blind eye to homosexual activities, they say. This segregated community also rightly should take part in the same Masses as the rest of the Catholic community.

Those against the decision felt hurt and somewhat betrayed by what they saw as a lack of compassion for people who still face prejudice and have unique ministry needs. Other parishes aren’t geared for this ministry, and gay and lesbian people, including those with adopted children, will not find the appropriate ministry to them at other parishes, they say.

Factually speaking, here are some elements not in dispute about this turn of events:

The decision ended a 15-year run of the Mass at St. Ann Catholic Church and more than 25 years at other parishes before then.

There are about 30 active members of Dignity, and the Mass drew up to 50 on certain occasions.

The archdiocese has held out a program called Courage as an approved ministry for gay and lesbian people. It promotes both compassion and celibacy in accordance with Catholic theology.

A recording of the Mass was privately sent to the Vatican, its U.S. rep and the local chancery.

The past two archbishops knew of the Mass and had varying levels of talks with members of the Mass.

It was discontinued by Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu, who sent an Oct. 13 letter to the St. Ann parish pastor, setting Oct. 18 as the effective date, a day after the final Sunday Mass at the parish.

It’s hard to rule out or confirm that there was a strategy to avoid pinning this decision on the immediate past and incoming archbishop, who is set to start duties on Nov. 23. The archdiocese says the decision came after lengthy, multiyear review.

It is interesting to note that the Cantu’s letter came a day after the Oct. 12 press release from the Vatican that a new agency called the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization was created to restore the Christian faith in places where secularism has eroded once-strong foundations. Here’s a story by Bloomberg on the new council.

In the Oct. 12 release, the pope called out his particular concern about the loss of “common understanding of the fundamental experiences of man, such as birth, death, living in a family, and reference to a natural moral law.”

Whether this new council is tied to the recently ended Mass or not, it is clear that Catholic concepts of theology have played out concretely and practically in the ending of this Mass.